It is a bumper crop of Australians lining up to take on the Tour de France this year, with eleven expected among the field lining up in Bilbao on Saturday July 1. Only France and the cycling devotees of Belgium and the Netherlands have a larger contingent of riders for patriotic fans to cheer on.
The Australian’s too, are far from just making up the numbers, as while many will be in support roles, the sprinters of Caleb Ewan (Lotto Dstny) and Sam Welsford (Team DSM) offer up serious stage winning potential, as do the break away contenders including Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) – one of two Australian stage winners last year. The other, Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla), won’t be on the start line this year.
Still, it's not just stages the Australian’s will be in contention for, not given Giro d’Italia winner Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) will be on the start line, along with Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën), who finished fourth in 2021.
Some of the riders from Australia are experienced hands, others are making their debut, but all up and the strong and diverse field of Australian riders look set to make the late nights for the spectators tuning in from the southern hemisphere well worth it.
Now to take a closer look at each of the riders expected to be on the start list, which with initially thought would be 11 but with the addition of Jack Haig the tally has jumped even one higher to 12.
Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe)
- Age: 27
- Tour de France record: Debut
- Role: GC leader
It may be Jai Hindley's Tour de France debut but he clearly has the Grand Tour pedigree given his Giro d'Italia victory last year and runner-up spot the year before, plus it is a course that suits the rider from Western Australia perhaps more than ever before. “The route in terms of the climbing and the fact that there is one time trial – and it's a pretty hilly time trial – it's a big attraction," Hindley told Cyclingnews in January. That's why he skipped defending his Giro d'Italia title and is now entering the July race with good signs of developing form, having finished just off the podium at the Critérium du Dauphiné.
It may be hard for anyone to see past defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and two-time winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) when it comes to yellow jersey contenders, but the calm assured rider leading Bora–Hansgrohe is clearly high up on the next rung of contenders. He makes a likely candidate to become the third Australian to stand on the final GC podium on the Champs-Élysées.
Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën)
- Age: 27
- Tour de France record: 2 starts, 4th overall in 2021 with 1 stage win
- Role: GC leader
Ben O'Connor may not have Grand Tour GC podiums to his name, but he has come ever so close. Since he stepped into his first Tour de France in 2021 and snatched a stage win and fourth overall he has been impossible to look past as a serious threat. Last year he lost the chance to try and move up a spot and reach the podium, crashing and then abandoning as the race hit the Alps and he suffered with a torn glute muscle. However, riding for French team AG2R Citroën there can be no doubt how much both he and the team have put into chasing that podium goal again in 2023.
As far as the form on the run-in goes, he joined HIndley in delivering an encouraging showing at the Dauphiné. In fact O'Connor finished with a 20 second advantage to the Bora-Hansgrohe rider, therefore taking the final spot on the overall podium. The duo from Western Australia have certainly give the nation plenty to be optimistic about when it comes to the overall battle.
Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious)
- Age: 28
- Tour de France record: 3 starts, 38th in 2019, crashed out stage 3 in 2021 and stage 5 in 2022
- Role: Climbing support
Jack Haig, who came third in the Vuelta a España, wasn't originally expected to be among the starters in 2023, sick of his run of crashes at in France and heading to the Giro d'Italia instead. However, when the team announcement came out from Bahrain Victorious Haig was on the list. he won't be the overall leader again this year, with that role going to Mikel Landa. Instead he'll be supporting Landa in the mountains and given he returned to racing after a post Giro break at the Critérium du Dauphiné and took fifth overall it looks as if he is heading in with form on his side.
Luke Durbridge (Jayco-AlUla)
- Age: 32
- Tour de France record: 8 starts
- Role: Support on flat, climb positioning
Luke Durbridge is a Tour de France regular for Jayco-AlUla and there is a very good reason for that. His results at the Grand Tour may be nothing to write home about, but it's all about what he helps others achieve as Durbridge is the ultimate workhorse. The Australian-based squad is going with a two-pronged approach this year, Dylan Groenewegen for the sprints and Simon Yates for the mountains and while much of the squad is suited to a support role for one or the other, Durbridge will be in demand by both. He will be looked on to provide the horsepower on the flat and also to position Yates and his support riders on the lead in to the climbs. Also watch for the experienced player to potentially slip into the occasional break, as while his stage 10 COVID-19 withdrawal left him with little opportunity last year, he did in 2021 make some surprise appearances up the road in some of the climb-heavy stages.
Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla)
- Age: 28
- Tour de France record: debut
- Role: Climbing support
Chris Harper made the shift to Jayco-AlUla this season from Jumbo-Visma. He hasn't exactly had a lot of opportunity over three weeks, taking on his first Grand Tour in 2020 at the Giro d'Italia, only for his team to withdraw before stage 10. He did however, get to race and finish the Vuelta a España last year, plus now that he has joined the Australian squad the chances are perhaps likely to come along more often. It wasn't the best of starts to Harper's season, with the rider suffering a crash that put him out of his home stage-race, the Tour Down Under, but since then he's delivered solid performances, most recently a 16th overall at the Critérium du Dauphiné. At his first Tour de France, particularly given his form looks to be coming along nicely, he is expected to be a valuable ally for Simon Yates in the mountainous stages.
Matthew Dinham (Team DSM)
- Age: 23
- Tour de France record: debut
- Role: Climbing support
For Matthew Dinham this is not only his Tour de France debut but also his very first Grand Tour, and it's hard not to see it as a mark of respect that the team have slotted him in as part of the climbing support squad for Romain Bardet in just his first season on the WorldTour. The rider, who has also been an Australian champion on the mountain bike, made clear his climbing potential last year when he won the mountainous 1.2 ranked La Maurienne while racing with Team BridgeLane and he seems to be quickly finding his feet now that he has shifted into the top tier.
It's been a solid opening six months for Dinham, particularly at the recent Tour de Suisse where he was 13th in stage 2 and tenth on stage 7. Dinham will have his work cut out as he learns the ropes at this Tour de France but he could certainly be a rider to look out for on the results table in the years to come.
Chris Hamilton (Team DSM)
- Age: 28
- Tour de France record: One start
- Role: Climbing support
Chris Hamilton is the next of the Australians on the Tour de France roster for Team DSM, which has four riders on-board from the nation. Hamilton has been with the Dutch team ever since he made the shift to the WorldTour in 2017 and while he has ridden plenty of Grand Tours, this is just his second start at the Tour de France. He last year debuted as part of the squad that helped Bardet to sixth overall. This year he'll be the most experienced player among Bardet's climbing support trio, which along with Dinham includes the 22-year-old rider from the US Kevin Vermaerke.
Sam Welsford (Team DSM)
- Age: 27
- Tour de France record: Debut
- Role: Sprinter
Sam Welsford will be another of the Australian riders making his Grand Tour debut in France, and what's more he'll be doing it as the team's supported sprinter. It's a big role for a rider who is in just his second year on the WorldTour but Welsford is stepping into the spotlight in France with an already well-tested ability to deliver on the world's biggest sporting stages, having won Olympic silver and bronze on the track along with four world titles and two Commonwealth Games gold medals.
The 27-year-old's transition to the WorldTour has been just about as smooth as they come, with Welsford taking to the podium at Scheldeprijs, known as the unofficial World Championships for sprinters, just months after he started with the team in 2022. This season he has added dual stage victories at Vuelta a San Juan, a win at Grand Prix Criquielion and a hefty list of podiums, including a step up to second at Scheldeprijs. The podium at the Tour de France could perhaps be next.
Alex Edmondson (Team DSM)
- Age: 29
- Tour de France record: Debut
- Role: Sprint support
Alex Edmondson is another rider with track roots, and has also taken medals at both the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, but has been focussed on the road for many years now. He made the move to the WorldTour with the Australian squad now known as Jayco-AlUla in 2016 and shifted to DSM this season. There he reunited with Welsford, who he raced and won medals on the track with, and now he'll be an important part of Welsford's sprint support as the pair make their Tour de France debut. The 2018 Australian road champion is also clearly carrying powerful form into the race, having last month netted two podiums in races against the clock at the Baloise Belgium Tour and ZLM Tour, plus he came fourth on the GC at ZLM, two spots behind Welsford who came second.
Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny)
- Age: 28
- Tour de France record: 4 starts, 5 stage wins
- Role: Sprinter
There is no doubt that the last two Tour de France appearances haven't gone to plan for Caleb Ewan, a crash on stage 3 ending his race in 2021 and in 2022 he rode into Paris as the Lanterne Rouge, with the eighth spot on the Champs-Élysées his best result of the Tour. The rider, with five victories at the race to his name since his 2019 debut, has had a pretty tough start to 2023 as well with so many near misses, some on painstakingly close photo finish calls. Still the fact that he has so often been so close means that all it would take is just a small margin to turn it around. He has already had a confidence boost, breaking the early season win drought by beating Tim Merlier at Van Merksteijn Fences Classic in May.
"There are always hard times, but I'd love to turn my luck around this year," Ewan said in an interview with Cyclingnews. "There's no better feeling than winning at the biggest race in the world, and I want to feel it again.”
Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech)
- Age: 36
- Tour de France record: 7 starts, one stage win
- Role: Break specialist
Last year was a triumphant Tour de France for Simon Clarke, who had gone from the low of not even having a contract at the start of the season to standing on the top step of one of the most sought after podiums in the world of cycling. The realisation of a dream came on the cobbled stage 5, when Clarke was part of a six-man break and with a throw to the line captured the biggest win of his 13 year WorldTour career. He had seen an opportunity and grasped it with both hands, adding a Tour de France stage victory to his two Vuelta a España stage wins of 2012 and 2018. Clarke continued on with that drive to make the most of his career renewal into 2023, taking second at the Australian National Championships road race and third at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, while the Giro d'Italia delivered a near miss on stage six when he and break companion Alessandro De Marchi (Jayco-AlUla) were caught just 400m from the line.
We'll have to wait and see if Clarke can hit the Tour de France jackpot two years in a row, but one thing to count on is that he'll be doing everything he can to take whatever opportunities come his way.
Nick Schultz (Israel-Premier Tech)
- Age: 28
- Tour de France record: One start
- Role: Breaks, mountains
Nick Schultz is another rider who found a career life-line at Israel-Premier Tech, as he had been rumoured to join the B&B Hotels team which fell apart. Israel-Premier Tech re-opened their roster in December and added the climber who spent the last four seasons with Jayco-AlUla to their squad and already they have extended his contract through till the end of 2025. "He hit the ground running at Ruta del Sol at the beginning of the season and it’s only a matter of time before he scores a big win," said General Manager Kjell Carlström in the announcement of the extension.
Schultz last year came close to that big win last year at the Tour de France, coming second in a two-up sprint with break companion Magnus Cort on stage 10, so it is certainly not out of the question that he could, like Clarke, reward the team that revived his career with a top step at the Tour de France.
